Saturday, December 03, 2005

The Tale of the etrog - Archives: Jerusalem Post

Tracing the saga of the Succot fruit all the way back to its Far East roots. Ari Greenspan is a dentist in Jerusalem and Ari Zivotofsky teaches neuroscience at Bar Ilan University. Together they have been "halachic adventurers" for over 20 years.[Table]It should be simple. The holiday of Succot approaches and youbuy the four species mandated by the Torah. The lulav (palmbranch) with its accompanying willow and myrtle stems are easilychosen. But choosing the etrog is an entirely different matter.For the most mehudar (exquisite) etrog, you need to spend timestudying the hundreds of yellow lemon-like fruits at your localetrog dealer. Who would have thought that behind this fine,fragrant, and beautiful fruit is a history of political intrigue,worldwide business domination, and acerbic religious disputes thatleft a sour taste in the mouths of many?The phrase used by the Torah to describe the etrog is pri etzhadar or "the fruit of a beautiful tree" (Lev. 23:40). ModernHebrew for all fruit of the citrus family (lemon, orange, etc.) is"hadar."The oral tradition from Sinai is very clear: the fruit we taketoday and have used for thousands of years is the etrog, orcitron, known scientifically as Citrus Medica, (because of itsmedicinal uses, or Citrus Media, attributed to its Persianorigin).The etrog is also called "Adam's apple," or "paradise apple,"and is one of the suggested candidates for the fruit of the Treeof Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.That was all fine and dandy for Jews living in the Holy Landand Persia, where the etrog was well-established. Prof. AriSchaffer of the Volcani Institute for Agricultural Research inBeit Dagan cites Maimonides's thesis presented in his Guide forthe Perplexed that the Torah's mandate of these particular fourspecies is that "they were plentiful in those days in EretzYisrael, so that everyone could easily get them."Schaffer also notes that the etrog specifically fulfills thesymbolic role of the plant growing largely on the coastal plainsof Israel and demanding much water, as part of the ritual of thefour species which represent water-loving plants in the variousecological habitats of Israel (palm - desert; willow - river beds;myrtle - mountains; etrog - plains).The etrog was unique in the ancient period as a tree thatrequired intense irrigation (hadar was even interpreted in the

Talmud as "hydro," the water tree), unlike native Israeli fruit trees such as the fig, date, grape, and pomegranate.[Table]This ritual coincides with the other water rituals of Succot,including the water libations, because both thanks and prayers arespecifically offered for rain during this period.In fact, the history of the citrus fruit has its roots in theFar East. Botanical historians followed the etrog from its originsin the Far East westward. Jewish tradition holds that the etrogwas transmitted from father to son from the time of the giving ofthe Torah.One thing is sure: by the time of Alexander the Great in 332BCE, it was well-rooted as the first citrus fruit in the westernworld. The fruit is described in detail by the great Greeknaturalist Theophrastus, a contemporary of Alexander, and extolledfor its medicinal value as well as its fragrance.The Jews, however, constantly used it on the joyous holiday ofSuccot. An unusual event occurred during the Simchat BetHasho'eva, the joyous celebration of water libation during theintermediate days of the holiday.During the first century BCE, Alexander Yanai, the sixth andlast of the Maccabean ruler high priests, had angered the Phariseepopulation by his Hellenized, military behavior. The outrage atthis soldier priest climaxed when he brazenly expressed Sadduceebeliefs by pouring the water libation on his feet (Succah 4:9),and he was pelted with etrogim by the multitudes gathered on theTemple Mount in Jerusalem.With the dispersion of the Jews to the four corners of theearth, the heretofore unknown fruit went with them. For why woulda fruit with almost no pulp, little known benefit, that needscopious quantities of water and care, and that is particularlyfragile find itself being grown in orchards on the perimeter ofthe Mediterranean Sea?It was clearly to enable the fulfillment of the preceptcommanded in the Torah. It appears in the Peloponnesus (southernGreece) and Mauritania in the first and second centuries. FromIsrael westward we find it transplanted to Egypt, Libya, Tunisiaand Morocco. Going north, it was dispersed to Lebanon, Syria,Greece and Italy.Jewish art and coinsWe find numerous examples of the etrog on mosaic floors andfrescoed walls of synagogues from the Roman and Byzantine period.Sometimes it appears with the lulav and other times alone.It's such an important Jewish icon that it is also found onnumerous coins of the Great Revolt in the year 66 CE, and is acommon theme on the coins of the Bar Kochba rebellion of 132-135CE. In fact, its appearance in non- Jewish art is considered to bea sign of Judaizing influences. Even the well-known belt or"gartle" around the middle of the fruit which is especially chosenby many hassidim can be seen to be prevalent 2,000 years ago,based on depictions on coins of the first and second centuries,as well as various synagogue mosaics.The "gartle" can already be observed on the fruitlet only daysafter the flower opens, and is caused by the ring of anthers inthe flower physically constricting the fruitlet, much like arotund hassid tying a gartle around his belly.One of the most interesting testimonies from a Bar Kochbaperiod coin is the representation of the Four Species showing asingle etrog, a single lulav, a single willow branch and a singlemyrtle branch, rather than the two willows and three myrtles weare accustomed to. This is in accordance with the opinion of RabbiAkiva, Bar Kochba's supporter, that "just as the etrog and lulavare single, so too are the willow and myrtle."The use by Bar Kochba of the etrogim on his rebellion coins isall the more poignant when we discover that one of the very fewletters found intact in the caves of the Judean desert by YigalYadin was written by Bar Kochba himself, and deals with his armyand its supply difficulties."Shimon to Yehudah Bar Menashe: Kiryat Arabaya. I have sent twodonkeys. You shall send two men with them to Yehonatan bar Be'ayanand to Masabla. They shall pack and bring back to you palmbranches and etrogim. You should send others from your place tobring back myrtles and willows. See that they are tithed. Sendthem all to my camp. Our army is large. Peace."High finance and the etrogIt would seem that as long as Jews stayed in the moderateclimate on the shores of the Mediterranean, there was nodifficulty obtaining etrogim for the holiday. As people movednorth into France, Germany, Poland and Russia, however, thetemperature-sensitive tree could not exist and tremendous problemsensued. In fact, the halachic literature is replete with cases ofonly one etrog being available to fulfill an entire community'sneed.The commercial aspect regarding the Jews' willingness to buythese fruits at any price was not lost on the non- Jews. In 1329,victorious Guelph Florence prohibited the republic of Pisa fromengaging in the etrog trade, keeping the lucrative business foritself. Empress Maria Theresa (mid-18th century) demanded a hugeannual tax of 40,000 florins from the Jews of Bohemia for theright to import their etrogim.The local Jewish community was often in charge of etrogimsales, and a small tax was levied in order to help with communalexpenses. The fledgling Ashkenazi community of Jerusalem in thefirst half of the 19th century was prohibited from engaging in theetrog trade.One of the early etrog dealers in Palestine to break theSephardic monopoly was Rabbi Yaakov Sapir, for whom the JerusalemHills moshav Even Sapir is named. He describes how "when I camefrom the holy city of Tzfat, may it be rebuilt, to Jerusalem, theholy city, may it be rebuilt, in the year 1835, the entirebusiness was in the hands of the Sephardic community. A greatrabbi, who was in charge of the fund, would send two people in themonth of Av every year, who were born in Israel, to bring thenecessary number of erogim. In those days, 500 etrogim was morethan enough."Grafted etrogimThe etrog tree is very delicate, requiring constant care. Itstarts to bear fruit after about five years, but because it isvulnerable to a number of diseases, particularly those of the rootsystem, they rarely live more than 10 or 15 years.The solution is to graft an etrog onto a base of another citrustree, most often a lemon tree, thus using the hearty base of thelemon to nourish the etrog.A grafted-citron tree, known as a murkav, has a life expectancyof 30 to 35 years, is more durable, and requires less care. Afterjust a few years, the place where the two trees were joinedbecomes difficult to detect, and it is then virtually impossibleto determine if a tree is pure or grafted. At times the graft

union is below ground level, adding difficulty to the diagnosis.

No mention is made in the Talmud, early commentators,[Table]Maimonides, or even the Shulchan Aruch about the halachic statusof a grafted etrog, despite the fact that the technique ofgrafting was known from before the talmudic period.Not only were they familiar with the general principal ofgrafting, but Maimonides even discusses grafting etrogim, albeitnot in the context of Succot but rather related to the paganrituals that often accompanied the grafting procedure.This silence by the rabbis on the suitability of murkav fruitmay be because they did not commonly graft etrogim, possiblybecause there were not yet any other citrus plants in Israel onwhich to graft them, since the second citrus fruit to beintroduced into the Middle East, the lemon, makes its appearanceonly in the Middle Ages. Or the omission may be because such anetrog would actually not have been problematic in their eyes.The first discussion of a concern over an etrog murkav is byscholars of the Holy Land and Italy in the 16th century, whoprobably personally witnessed what was by then a widespreadprocedure. Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen, known as the Maharammi'Padua (1482-1565, Padua, Italy) and Rabbi Moshe Alshich (1508-ca. 1593 Safed), a student of Rabbi Joseph Karo, the author of theShulchan Aruch, or Code of Jewish Law, were among the first todiscuss and prohibit the grafted etrog.

Although these are the earliest recorded prohibitors, from[Table]these sources it is clear that the phenomenon already hadestablished roots, positions on its use were known, and mostlikely the use of such etrogim was widespread.Over the centuries, while it was generally held that a murkavwas unacceptable, the search for a reason offered fertile groundfor a plethora of suggestions as to its invalidation.Some of these reasons are:1. Due to the fact that the fruit must be whole and not missinga piece (chaser), the grafted etrog is considered as beingpartially from each fruit and therefore not complete.2. Possibly the identity of a fruit is determined by the trunkof the tree on which it appears, meaning that a grafted etrog isnot even considered to be an etrog but rather a lemon.

3. Because the fruit consists partially of a lemon, using it[Table]for the mitzvah entails adding an additional species, whichviolates the prohibition of bal tosif (adding onto mitzvot).4. Interspecies grafting of any kind is a biblical prohibition,and using the progeny of an illicit act for a mitzvah is"repugnant to God."Most authorities are willing to apply this rationale even ifthe grafting was done by non-Jews. However, it is actually notclear whether the etrog and lemon are in fact considered distinctspecies according to halakha.Over the past few hundred years, following the prohibition ofgrafted etrogim, various physical, botanical characteristics havebeen proposed to distinguish between the grafted and pure etrog:the murkav is smooth like the lemon, while the etrog is rough andbumpy; the grafted etrog has a protruding stem, while the pure onehas a recessed stem; the real etrog has a very thick skin andalmost no pulp, while the grafted one has a thin skin like thelemon and a liquidy pulp; finally, the pure citron has seeds thatlie longitudinally (i.e. parallel to the long axis), while in themurkav the seeds lie latitudinally (horizontally).The important 19th-century authority, the Chatam Sofer, greatlyminimized the utility of these late, non- Talmudic signs.In lieu of anatomical markers to identify an ungrafted etrog,he demanded the existence of an unbroken mesorah, tradition, as isrequired in order to identify kosher birds. He did, however, grantweight to two other signs that have their roots in the Talmud. Theetrog is described as the only tree in which the fruit and thetree have the same taste. In addition, the etrog is consideredunique in that the fruit will stay on the tree past its "season"and continue to grow and thrive year-round.

Prof. Eliezer Goldschmidt of The Hebrew University of[Table]Jerusalem's faculty of agricultural, food, and environmentalquality sciences, and a world expert on etrogim, has studied thehistory of the etrog as well as the morphological and geneticeffects of grafting. He concludes that genetically, grafting hasno effect on the etrog fruit, and that the fruit growing on abranch of the etrog scion (the stem portion of the tree) willremain the same etrog irrespective of the tree used as the stock(the root portion of the grafted tree).Interestingly, some of the most recent scientific research inthe field of plant molecular biology suggests that in certaincases there can actually be a transfer of genetic material acrossgraft unions in plants. But nevertheless, from a scientific view,a grafted etrog has the same makeup as a non-grafted one.The etrog warsAs the Jewish population of northern Europe proliferated, theneed to import etrogim from far away, namely the Italian and Greekcoasts and neighboring islands, grew, and the possibility of graftincreased. In fact, the non-Jewish merchants understood thefortunes that could be made, and actually turned the graftedetrogim into an exquisitely beautiful fruit.The unparalleled experts were the islanders of Corfu.No one knows exactly when etrog orchards first started inCorfu, but the Corfu etrog appears to have first been sold inSephardic lands in the mid-18th century. By the last decades ofthe 18th century, these beautiful etrogim were introduced to theAshkenazim.Corfu etrogim were characterized by their stunning appearance,relatively steep price, and by the retained stigma (pitam), takenby many as a sign that they had been grafted. This led toquestions regarding their fitness.Not everyone, however, agreed that a murkav is unkosher. TheHungarian rabbi Meir ben Isaac (b. 1708), in his work PanimMe'irot, concludes that since a murkav has all the properties of apri etz hadar it should be kosher. The Rashban (Rabbi Shlomo TzviSchick) permitted buying etrogim of questionable lineage from thelocal etrog merchant, a widow, because supporting her is a greaterhiddur than the fear of grafted etrogim.Throughout the first half of the 19th century, Corfu etrogimwere widely distributed and, for many, were the preferred variety.A large number of Sephardic rabbis were wary of the potential forfraud but accepted etrogim from Corfu as long as they had localrabbinic validation.In Poland and Lithuania, there was also widespread use of theCorfu etrog, although the rabbinic reaction was mixed, but rarelyequivocal. People either preferred the Corfu beauty and werewilling to pay the premium price or held it to be part lemon andinvalidated it totally.In 1846, all heck broke loose, and what would be probably themost ferocious and acrimonious halachic debate of 19th-centuryEurope burst forth. This fascinating piece of Jewish history wasthe subject of a recent in-depth study by Prof. Yosef Salmon of

Ben Gurion University.

Behind the initial salvo was Alexander Ziskind Mintz, a learned[Table]resident of Brody who earned his livelihood from selling etrogim.He had actually achieved a monopoly the previous year on citronsfrom Parga on the Ionian coast of Greece, near Corfu.He published a booklet titled Pri Etz Hadar that prohibited theetrogim of Corfu and the surrounding areas such as the Albaniancoast. It seems that a former partner of his had broken off andset up shop in these new areas. In order to stop him, Mintzsolicited and received the support of many of the great rabbis ofthe time, all of whom were included in this slender volume. Theirclaim was that the exceptional beauty of the Corfu fruit wasactually what damned it. A real etrog could never be as perfect asa grafted one. In parallel, a minor brouhaha erupted over theetrogim from Corsica that were also suspected of being grafted.

The chief rabbi of Corfu, Rabbi Yehudah Bibias, countered that[Table]he had personally checked the local etrogim and they were notgrafted. Furthermore, he argued that grafting in the warm climateof Corfu is actually detrimental to the fruit.Numerous rabbis lined up behind the Corfu etrogim, as did manyconsumers who continued to prefer the attractive Corfu product.From that time onwards, all etrogim were sold with rabbinicsupervision reading "kosher with no concern of being grafted." Yetthe argument persisted, engendering many letters and responses.Fortunes hung in the balance. Various rabbinical prohibitionsover the years were either observed or ignored, but everybodyagreed on one thing - the beauty of the Corfu fruits wasunsurpassed.The farmers of Corfu fought back, found supporters among theHassidim, and a number of times even dumped thousands of citronsinto the ocean to create a shortage to raise the price. Thetemptation for a beautiful etrog was so great that despite therabbinic ban, Jews continued to purchase those etrogim.In 1876, the debate was reignited with the publication of abroadside signed by 117 Polish rabbis banning the Corfu etrog, andso once again the rabbi of Corfu defended "his" product.Two additional factors conspired to doom the Corfu etrog. In1891 the Greek population of Corfu, never known for their love ofJews, became involved in a blood libel. The Avnei Nezer wrote of"the etrogim of Corfu that are in the hands of the uncircumcisedGreeks, known through their writings to be Amalekites, may theirnames be erased."From as far away as Newark, New Jersey, a call was issued toban Corfu etrogim. A broadside was issue there in 1892 whichdescribed the importers of Corfu etrogim to the United States as

"traders in the blood of Israel" who, "since there is hardly a man in Europe who will touch them, bought these etrogim dripping with the blood of the children of Zion."[Table]The second factor was the Israeli etrog crop. There had alwaysbeen a small, local etrog industry in the Land of Israel. Thetradition on the kashrut of the etrogim from Tiberias, Safed,Shechem and Jaffa was very old. Some of the orchards had been

planted by Rabbi Yosef Karo in Safed, some 300 years earlier.

In fact, Rabbi Chaim Wax, in his Nefesh Haya, published in the mid-19th century, tells us that the entire concern over grafted trees began from the year 1851.[Table]He writes: "Originally all of the land was under the control ofthe Sultan, and nobody had the right to plant trees, and if he didthe extracts were the Sultan's. Who would plant a tree if one knewthe fruits would not be theirs? However, there was a garden

belonging to the king, and in it no falsity was practised. In 1851 though, permission was granted to plant trees if a tax was paid to the king, and since then there has been an increase in the fakers and grafters."[Table]The orchards in the Land of Israel were all in Arab hands, andetrogim were relatively inexpensive. In the mid 19th century localSephardim entered the etrog trade, and soon thereafter theAshkenazim accused them of peddling grafted etrogim . TheAshkenazim too started selling etrogim. After several decades ofbitter fighting, Israeli etrogim garnered the strong support ofchief rabbi Avraham Kook. Kook suggested raising kosher etrogim inIsrael, and making the Land the leading supplier of etrogim.

"The future, my brother, is with the kosher etrog, with the[Table]power of kashrut, and only with the kosher etrog will we win thebattle of those who are against us, the Corfu mamzer [etrogim]."There was even a famous trip across Israel on donkey by theleading rabbis of Jerusalem at the end of the 19th century insearch of non-grafted etrogim. The journey was described in allthe newspapers.There is the quaint description of their sojourn among the Araborchardists, and how they dug around the base of the trees lookingfor the graft scar. Originally the Israeli etrogim were ofsignificantly poorer quality, but Kook, in an effort to boostsales, published a text extolling the virtues of usingspecifically etrogim from the Land of Israel on Succot.So too the famed Lithuanian authority Rabbi Yechiel Epsteinincluded in his Halakhic work, Aruch Hashulchan, a plug forIsraeli etrogim, not only because he said they are unquestionablykosher, but because of the importance of buying from the Land ofIsrael.Rabbi Hezekiah Modena (19th century, Israel) writes: "IfIsrael's etrogim are not the loveliest on earth, they will be theloveliest in Heaven."Over time, the Israeli etrog became "lovelier on earth," andhas won the etrog wars. Today Israel is the world's leadingsupplier of etrogim for Succot, and most Jewish communitiesworldwide pride themselves in using the holy fruit from the HolyLand.There are a few exceptions to this unifying theme of worldJewish ritual usage. One interesting exception is the Chabad sect,which adamantly uses etrogim of the Diamente variety fromCalabria, near the southern portion of the boot of Italy.Schaffer relates that Chabad followers are known to pass on thelegend that when Moses received the commandment during the

wanderings through the desert to take the etrog, he naturally looked around the desolation around him, bewildered, and asked the Almighty, "From where am I supposed to take them?"[Table]And the Almighty took Moses upon a cloud and flew him aroundthe world until he landed in Calabria, where he picked the firstetrogim used by Jews for the ritual of Succot. And to this daythey preserve the custom of using Calabrian etrogim.The modern etrogNothing, of course, will stop the bickering about whose etrogis the genuine article, and today in Israel several "breeds" aregrown.Some have posited that the "Yemenite etrog" is the closest tothe "original" fruit used by the Jews in days of old.It is large, without pulp, and edible, indicating to itssupporters that the lemon has not been grafted with it. It isstill grown in the orchards of Yemen in the same primitive ways asof old. Today, it is also cultivated by Jews of Yemenite ancestryin Israel.Others vote for the etrogim of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco,grown by Berber tribesmen in primitive and ancient conditions.Prof. Eliezer Goldschmidt pointed out in an article in T'chuminthat there is simply no way to tell if an etrog today is adescendent of a grafted tree or one that naturally crosspollinated years ago.Nonetheless, he and his colleagues in a recent study comparedthe DNA of 12 etrogim from a variety of sources and found greatsimilarities, indicating that "all the currently acknowledgedtypes of citrons appear to be 'true,' authentic citrons."Despite the DNA evidence that these are all one species,business is booming for all, as there are still buyers who prefer

only one of the various types.

4 photos; Caption: Yael Greenspan holds a fingered etrog in one hand and a large Yemenite etrog in the other. An Arab etrog salesman in the souk of Sanaa in Yemen. The authors, Ari Greenspan and Ari Zivotofsky pose with etrogim. A medieval Rothschild manuscript featuring a picture of a man holding the four species.